Ever Land is one of the most striking debut novels of the year — a work of fiction that announces Amy Abdelnoor as a significant and original new voice. 
 
About Ever Land: It is the year 2000 when Dinah, a Jewish teenager from London, arrives in Israel with her family. Still reeling from the death of her beloved dad, the idea of having to start all over again daunts her.
 
Another teenager, Safa, watches Dinah settle in. A fourteen-year-old Palestinian who was shot and killed decades ago in the Six Day War, Safa is caught in a limbo which she calls the ‘In-Between’.
Alternating between past and present, and between Safa and Dinah, Ever Land is a gripping and powerful story that sheds light on the ongoing occupation of Palestine. It is a tale of belonging and identity, of devastation and displacement and – ultimately – of the enduring universality of humanity and love.
 
In this intimate conversation with Monisha Rajesh, Amy discusses the novel's genesis, its themes, and what it means to finally see the book that has lived inside you for years take shape in the world.
 
Format: Conversation & Q&A
Themes: Fiction, Adults, New Voices, Literary, Book Club
 
Amy Abdelnoor Books: Ever Land
Amy Abdelnoor is a British Arab author, writer and teacher; her maternal grandfather was Lebanese. She studied English and Arabic at the University of Cambridge. She lived and worked in the West Bank and in refugee camps in Lebanon in her early twenties, experiences that inspired Ever Land, her debut novel, an early iteration of which was shortlisted for the 2023 Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize.
 
Monisha Rajesh Books: Moonlight Express: Around the World by Night Train, and Around the World in 80 Trains
Monisha Rajesh is a British journalist whose writing has appeared in Time magazine, the New York Times, the Financial Times and the Guardian. Her first book, Around India in 80 Trains, was named one of the Independent’s best books on India. Her second book, Around the World in 80 Trains, won the National Geographic Traveller Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year. Rajesh's latest book, Moonlight Express: Around the World by Night Train was also shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year in 2025. She lives in London with her family and mini-dachshund, Juno.